August 27, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Saani 17,1423

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SRINAGAR, Aug 26: Seventeen people, including four members of a policeman’s family and two Indian soldiers, were killed in occupied Kashmir on Monday and Sunday night, while Indian forces claimed killing six Mujahideen in clashes.

Gunmen entered the home of police constable Azad Ahmed in Poonch, 210kms west of held Jammu, and sprayed bullets at his family, police said.

Four people _ the policeman’s father, brother, sister-in-law and nephew _ were killed on the spot, while three children were in critical condition, said a police official.

Sunday night’s attack came two days after gunmen butchered 10 Muslim nomadic shepherds in Rajouri district.

Four Mujahideen were killed during a fierce encounter in the village of Trehgam, in Kupwara district, an Indian army spokesman said.

Two more Mujahideen were killed in another clash elsewhere, claimed an Indian official.

Polls will be held in Kupwara, along with five other districts of the held state, on Sept 16 — the first phase of the four-phase elections. In another incident, two Indian policemen were killed and four injured on Sunday night when Mujahideen attacked the motorcade of a senior police official, a police spokesman said.

He said the Mujahideen hurled a grenade at the bulletproof car of a superintendent of police in the village of Qaimoh, near the township of Kulgam, 60kms south of Srinagar.

“The grenade hit his vehicle, but did not explode,” a police spokesman said, adding it went off when an escort vehicle following the official car ran over it.—Reuters/ AFP